2023 Alewife Sewage Pollution

In 2023, 27.8 Million Gallons of untreated sewage pollution was dumped in Alewife Brook by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, Somerville, and Cambridge.¹

So what does that number mean? A way to visualize 28 millions gallons is to imagine a 6-story building the size of a football field full of sewage pollution. Imagine if all the toilets, sinks, showers, hospital drains and industrial process water in Cambridge and Somerville emptied into the Alewife Brook for a day. That would be 28 million gallons. The sewage dumped into the brook in 2023 was four times worse than the polluters’ authorized discharge amount of 7.29 million gallons per year.²

Because of Climate Change and aging infrastructure, the sewage pollution in the Alewife is worse now than it was three decades ago before a dollar was spent, and before any projects were begun to improve conditions as part of the Boston Harbor Cleanup Court Case.³

It’s not just sewage pollution –
it’s sewage pollution flooding. 

Last year, Alewife Brook flooded three times, overtopping its bank and releasing untreated Combined Sewer Overflows of human and industrial wastes onto the Alewife Reservation.  When Alewife Brook floods, CSOs have been dumping untreated sewage into the Brook. Area residents from Somerville, Cambridge, and Arlington were seen bicycling, jogging, and pushing baby strollers through untreated sewage flood water on State Park Land.

August 8th 2023

Area residents biked, jogged, walked, and pushed baby carriages through untreated sewage pollution after the Alewife Brook flooded the popular Alewife Greenway path.

September 19th 2023

A child rode her bike through Alewife sewage flood water and subsequently got stuck in the muck so she and her bike fell into the sewage. 

December 18th 2023

CSO sewage flooding in Cambridge inundated a homeless encampment on MBTA property behind the Alewife T parking garage, just feet away from Cambridge’s worst CSO. If we allow untreated sewage pollution to continue, this scene may well be a view of the future for the other 5000 people living in the Alewife’s 100-year floodplain.

Thank you to the hundreds of Alewife Supporters who registered & attended the 2023 Public CSO meeting on 11/15/2023. 

We appreciate the support received from the many residents in Somerville, Cambridge, Arlington, Belmont, Medford, and beyond!

Areeg Abd-Alla, Melanie Abrams, Jonathan Agger, Kristin Anderson, John Anderson, Penny Antonoglou, Marina Atlas, Sarah  Bell, Andrew Bellows, Eugene Benson, Loren Bernardi, Leiran Biton, David Boyer, Leah Broder, Ray Brown, Douglas Brown, Seth Bryant, Jonathan Burgess, Linda Burgess, Scott Burgess, Laurette Burgess, Melissa Campbell, Tricia Carney, Alida Castillo, Jeffrey Chagnon, Monique Chaplin, Susan Chapnick, Stephen  Clark , Stephen  Clark , Ellen Cohen, Eileen Coleman, Keith Collins, Cathy Coniaris, Marja Copeland, Michael Cunningham, Katie Daehn, Andrew Dague, Matthew De Remer, Shawn DeRosa, Andrew DeSantis, Alina Dess, D Devney, Angela DiTucci, Andreae Downs, Sandy Durmaskin, Sandy Durmaskin, Erin Ellingwood, Ruth Faas, Michael Fager, Susan Fagerstrom, Kara Falise, Richard Falzone, Jim Feeney, Maggie  Fellows, David Fichter, Peter Fiore, Lori Fitz, Ben Flaumenhaft, Chelsea Foster, Nancy Frost, Andrea  Ganino , Jon Gersh, Kathryn Goldenoak, Alix Gordon, Michael Greenblatt, Andrew Greenspon, Caleb Groen, Karen L Grossman, Lois Grossman, Alice Grossman, Charlie Hagedorn, S. Hall, Greg Harris, Max Heller, Patrick  Herron, Greg Hill, Andrew Hrycyna, Qumrunnessa Huda, Vladimir  Jandejsek, Sue Janowitz, Mark Jewell, Liz Jochnick, Anju Joglekar, Isaiah Johnson, Kathryn Johnson, Kathryn Johnson, Jessica  Kinner, George Laite, Kane Larin, Alexander Lee, Jennifer Letourneau, Marc Levy, Pasang Lhamo, Stephen Linder, Christopher Logan, Melissa Ludtke, Kristin MacDougall, Diane Mahon, Ryan Maloney, Peg McAdam, Michael McCord, Ann McDonald, Melissa McWhinney, Nabia Meghelli, Beth Melofchik, Sarah Merin, Elizabeth Merrick, Amy Mertl, Christine Metzler, Melissa Miguel, Beryl Minkle, Addison Minott, Tyler Mourey, Linda Moussouris, Noreen Murphy, Anna Muszynski, Jeffrey North, Clare Nosowitz, Tracy Olson, Emily Paulsen, Andrea Paulson, Stephen Perkins, Rebecca Persson, Paul Pinella, Helen Quach, Michael Quinn, Mike Rademacher, Amy Ramsay, Steve Rapp, Eric Reuss, McKenna Roberts, Wendy Robinson, Michelle Robinson , Marcela Rodriguez, Dave Rogers, Max Rome, Katie Ronan, Paula Rosenof, Mark Rosenthal, Ruth Ryals, Yaser Samerraei, Margaretta  Sangree , Amy Schofield, A Hugh Scott, Talia Shire, Adam Shire, Lou Silvestro, Andrew Smith, Gwen Speeth, Brad Spitzbart, George Stephans, George Stephans, ann stewart, Cynthia  Stillinger , Sam Stivers, David Stoff, Diane Stokes, Barbara Strell, Joanna Sullivan, Dana Sussman, Francis T, Megan Talkington, Penelope Taylor, Liz Thorstenson, Zhenyu Tian, John Tortelli, Charlie Trageser, Cambria Ung, Dan Vallee, David VanHoven, Peter Varga, Andy Visser, Rachel Wagner, Al Weiner, Barbara Weir, David White, Jane Whitmore, Julie Wood, David Wright, Jennifer Yanco, Marijane Zeller, Mike A 

Thank you to Mystic River Watershed Association’s Andy Hrycyna.

Andy Hrycyna has been focused on Alewife Brook CSOs and brought the 2023 CSO totals to our attention. You can take a deep dive into Andy’s awesome analysis here.

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Footnotes:

1. Based on preliminary data reported to the state at the Commonwealth’s Department of Energy & Environmental Affairs’ CSO Data Portal.  1/15/24 ↩︎
2. From Exhibit B to Second Stipulation of the United States and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority on Responsibility and Legal Liability for Combined Sewer Overflows, as amended by the Federal District Court on May 7, 2008 (the “Second CSO Stipulation”), the Long Term Control Plan permitted annual total for Alewife Brook is 7.29 MG. This really represents an annual average limit since there will always be variations from year to year. However, for the past nine years, the average annual discharges have been 18.4 MG – more than twice the permitted level. ↩︎
3. MWRA’s 12/30/2021 Final CSO Post Construction Monitoring Program and Performance Assessment Report,  table 2-2, page 2-4, “1992 System Conditions” totaled 26.81 MG ↩︎